MADRID, August 31. /TASS/. The EU must get ready for a new expansion that would lead to admission of 10 new states, and must negotiated the timeframe for their admission in order to expedite the preparations, EU High Representative Josep Borrell said after the informal meeting of EU foreign ministers in Toledo.
According to Borrell, the list of new EU member states must include Ukraine and Western Balkans. He claimed that the conflict in Ukraine accelerated to process of the expansion of the European Union. The official called to define political goals in order to provide a new impetus to this process and called on the EU to get ready to accept 10 new member states.
In these conditions, defining a certain horizon, a certain timeframe will allow EU member states and membership candidates to focus their efforts, Borrell said.
This is the first time that a Brussels official of this level directly proposed to define a specific timeframe for admission of new EU member states.